Chloe Sheppard’s new exhibition is a final goodbye to adolescent experience

Published on 16 May 2017

Chloe Sheppard shoots film like nobody else. Looking at girls through her sensitive, sombre aesthetic she rejects the male gaze, champions female agency, and imbibes an experience of adolescent girlhood with, as Chloe has said before, feelings of insecurity and of not being able to live up to expectations. “I Never Promised You A Rose Garden” coincides with her 21st birthday, a closure to her more formative years and a summation of her work (including three fully sold out zines) in a gallery space designed to replicate her own bedroom. Tired of seeing her images on screens the exhibition serves as a new medium for the beautiful 70s-esque photography (and all the scribbles, record sleeves and postcard collages) to be considered in a new physical realm of materialism. There will also be a special zine made just for the exhibition which will be available as well as posters of prints from the show.

“I Never Promised You A Rose Garden” opens on May 26th and will run for three days at Republic Gallery in East London. All other information is here on the Facebook event and you can follow Chloe’s dreamy 35mm feed on Instagram @eolhcsheppard.